Folk Architecture

Folk architecture is one of the symbols of Slovakia. It has survived in many villages and nowadays it attracts tourists from all over the world. Wooden architecture above all is typical for Slovakia. It drew inspiration in log constructions built by the old Slavs and although the original log structures are rare in Slovak villages there are still abundant wonderful examples of wooden folk architecture. Visiting the regions in central and eastern Slovakia may represent a special experience as these are the ones that boast many Conservation Reserves of Folk Architecture. Perhaps the best known of them is the small mountain
village of Vlkolínec with an extra remarkable set of wooden structures. The village has been included into the UNESCO List of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1993.
The book Folk Architecture is also a kind of a guidebook around rural settlements where the most compact historic urban fabrics exist. The aim of the book is to anticipate the most complete information possible about the history and present of villages in question. The first chapter of the book is devoted to localities that are Conservation Reserves of Folk Architecture.
These localities also contain structures that have been transformed into museum although there are many villages with rural Conservation Areas with reconstructed individual old houses or groups of such houses which are described in the second chapter of the book.